The process of composting, in which various organic materials including vegetable matter and animal carcasses and the like are decomposed to produce compost material, is known for making use of the compost material as a soil fertilizer. In many instances the matter is simply left to decompose in a large pile exposed to the elements. Before collecting the matter to be decomposed in a pile it is desirable to break up the matter to expose a larger surface area so that micro organisms can more readily decompose the matter. U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,364 to Robbins provides an example of a portable compost grinding apparatus which is suitable for reducing matter to be decomposed into smaller particles to assist in the decomposition process. The actual decomposition of the matter is left to be accomplished by conventional means such as storing in a pile as noted above.
In order to provide improved conditions for composting, it is typical to provide a bin within which matter to be decomposed is placed to produce composted material. U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,664 to Conant, U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,769 to Jonninen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,918 to Kubota and U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,674 to Mankiewicz disclose examples of composting devices in which mixers are provided to improve efficiency of the composting process by providing fresh air for the micro organisms to consume when decomposing the matter to be composted. In each instance however the matter to be composted is required to be sufficiently prepared by a grinding apparatus as described above for proper operation thereof which is both time consuming and costly when separate components are required.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,845,939 to Waldenville describes a composting apparatus including mixing elements to periodically mix the matter to be composted as in some of the previous prior art. A shredder device is provided at the inlet of the compost device to break up matter to be composted into smaller pieces however the particular construction of the shredding elements located in a narrow inlet tube would not permit large items like animal carcasses to be prepared for composting. Accordingly none of the prior art permits a user to both prepare and efficiently decompose large organic matter to be composted in a single operation using a single piece of equipment.